ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
April
8,
1976
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
Complainant,
v.
)
PCB 75—351
MRS.
F.P.
CREWS,
individually
and d/b/a MONA WILLIAMS TRAILER
PARK,
Respondent.
Mr.
M.
Barry
Forman,
Assistant Attorney General, appeared on behalf
of Complainant.
Mr. Earl
S.
Hendricks,
Jr., Hendricks
& Watt,
appeared on behalf
of the Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by Mr. Goodman):
This matter comes before the Pollution Control Board
(Board)
upon the September
8,
1975,
Complaint of the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency
(Agency) charging Mrs.
F.P.
Crews
(Crews) with violation
of Rule 953 of the Water Regulations and Section
12(f)
of the
Environmental Protection Act
in that Crews owned and operated a
sewage treatment works without
a NPDES permit or
a State of Illinois
permit.
Those portions of the Complaint referring to operating with-
out a NPDES permit were stricken in the Board Opinion of September
29,
1975.
That Opinion was reconsidered and affirmed by Order of
the Board on December
18,
1975.
Rule 953 of the Water Regulations originally required
an opera-
ting permit to be obtained prior to January
31, 1975, where the
operator must obtain an NPDES permit.
This date was extended to
June
30,
1975.
21 —61
—2—
A hearing was held on February
26, 1976,
at which three exhibits
were accepted into the record.
No issue of fact is presented to the
Board as Respondent, through her attorney, admits that she has not
obtained an Agency issued permit
(Ex.
2 and 3).
Mrs. Crews is the owner of the Mona Williams Mobile Home Park
located on a two acre site outside Murphysboro, Jackson County,
Illinois.
Mrs.
Crews operates a three cell oxidation pond and
effluent chlorination serving sixteen trailer spaces and discharging
to Pond Creek a tributary of Beaucoup Creek, and thence to Big Muddy
River
(Ex.
1).
Mrs. Crews applied for and obtained an operating permit for the
instant treatment works
in 1970
(Ex. 1-A).
She did not know that
she was required by Rule 953 to obtain an additional permit.
However,
when she was informed of the requirement, Mrs. Crews applied for an
operating permit.
This application was denied on February 25,
1976,
for deficiencies in the operation
(Ex.
3).
Mrs.
Crews’ attorney contends that Rule 953 constitutes ex post
facto legislation in that Mrs. Crews never had a hearing nor notifi-
cation that her original permit would not suffice under Rule 953.
Rule 956 states that the issuance of any permit by the Agency
prior to Rule 953’s effective date would not excuse compliance with
Rule 953.
The Board is of the opinion that the Respondent’s contention is
without merit.
According to Black’s Law Dictionary, 663
(Revised 4th
edition 1968), an ex post facto law is:
A law passed after the occurrence of a fact or commis-
sion of an act, which retrospectively changes the
legal consequences or relations of such fact or deed.
It is apparent that Rule 953 refers to the act of operating with-
out a permit after its effective date not before.
Therefore, we re-
ject Respondent’s contention.
The Board finds that Mrs. Crews has operated a sewage treatment
plant in violation of Rule 953 from June 30,
1975,
to the date of
the filing of the Complaint herein.
Due to Mrs. Crews’
good faith
and apparent confusion as to the state of her permit, no penalty will
be assessed.
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and con-
clusions of law in this matter.
21—62
—3—
ORDER
It is the Order of the Board that:
1)
Mrs.
F.P. Crews individually and
d/h/a
Mona Williams
Trailer Park is
found to have violated Rule 953 of the Water
Regulations from June
30,
1975 to and including September
8,
1975.
2)
Mrs. F.P.
Crews individually and d/b/a Mona Williams
Trailer Park is ordered to cease and desist operating
her
sewage
treatment plant unless
she applies for and obtains an operating
permit within 150 days
of
this Order.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Mr.
Young abstained.
I, Christan L.
Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Bo
r~1,hereby certify
he above Opinion and Order were adopted on the
~
day of~,
1976 by a vote of
~
Christan L. Moffett’
rk
Illinois Pollution
rol Board.
21
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